Lecture Intro: Ancient Women Writers

Salve! It's Lexi Harrell, one of your TA's for the academy this summer! When I was in high school, I obviously knew that women in the ancient world wrote (at least the wealthy women), but I could not name one woman, let alone read any of their work; I was introduced to my first woman writer, Sulpicia, just in the past year! Once I read her, I decided to learn more about these women and how esteemed those writers were, although we today may not even know their names. 

For my elective, I decided to delve into this topic more, allowing myself to do some more research into some amazing Greek and Roman women writers. We will look at some women who wrote as early as 600 BCE, and some as late as the 430s AD. These women wrote all sorts of different genre's, but it seems that a lot of their work did not survive today. Those that did, however, we will look at through translation and the original. This is more of an overview and introduction to some amazing women, and I know that a whole elective could be focused on just one woman; however, I wanted to open your minds first and see if you are as interested as I am.

We start with the love poet Sappho, and end with the Christian Empress Aelia Eudocia, and a whole bunch in between. We will see how some information about these women are recounted by other male travel writers, mainly Pausanias and Suetonius. And finally, we will get to hear a voice that is not heard often. I really hope you enjoy it and enjoy the ability to reflect on what some of these women did. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me!

Gratias tibi ago!!!
-Lexi Harrell